Patrol & Special Operations

Operations Division

The Patrol & Special Operations Division is the largest component of the police department and is comprised of 4 Patrol Teams, a Community Response Team, and three School Resource Officers. Under the direction of Operations Commander Captain Darrell Gruel, Lt. Jason Day, and Lt. Charles Squires these services are provided from the Police Department to the community within the City of Beaufort.

Most Police functions are handled through this division; to include routine patrols, business checks, residential patrols, traffic enforcement, report taking and criminal apprehension.

The Officers in the Patrol Division are proud to serve the community, citizens and visitors of Beaufort.

Mission Statement

We, the members of the Beaufort Police Department, are committed to being responsive to our community in the delivery of quality services. Recognizing our responsibility to maintain order, while affording dignity and respect to every individual, our objective is to improve the quality of life through a community partnership that promotes safe, secure neighborhoods.

Vision Statement

That the citizens of Beaufort will feel safe in all areas of the community, work together to solve community and neighborhood problems, and have a high level of respect, trust, and confidence in their police department.

Values

We, the employees of the Beaufort Police Department, believe that providing superior service to the citizens, merchants, and visitors of Beaufort is our primary responsibility and that all of our work should be structured with that goal in mind. We further believe that in meeting this goal, we shall be responsible to decisions made by the City Council, City Manager, the Police Chief, and the citizens of Beaufort City. In order to achieve and maintain superior standards in our work performance, we are committed to the following values:

Excellence in the delivery of services to the citizens, merchants, and visitors of Beaufort City.

Consideration for the importance of the employees and recognition of individual contributions and initiatives.

Energetic in the pursuit of proficiency and responsibility in the performance of our work.

Integrity and honesty in all aspects of service.

Discussion and information shared in a constructive open and supportive manner.

Impartial treatment and opportunity for all employees.

Department Principles

The principles of the Beaufort Police Department were adopted by City Council in the form of a Resolution on September 12, 1995.

WHEREAS, Community policing is based on a strategy to build a closer relationship between the citizenry and the police department which services it; and

WHEREAS, the community must accept and share responsibility with the police for social order, and the community and the police must work together to identify problems and develop pro-active community solutions; and

WHEREAS, the community, neighborhoods, families, individuals, schools, churches, local government and businesses must become empowered to accept the challenges and assume ownership of their community; and

WHEREAS, the community policing philosophy establishes priorities for police efforts which focus on customer services and satisfaction; and

WHEREAS, to achieve mutual trust between the police and the community, the police will develop and implement the concept of assigned officers to one beat for an extended period of time promoting daily direct and positive contact between the police and community residences which will enhance friendship and understanding, and creating the opportunity for the police to get to know the public they serve; and

WHEREAS, community policing strongly advocates and invites community partnerships, challenging community members to take charge of their own destiny; and

WHEREAS, under the concepts of community policing, alternatives are reviewed on how to handle situations and incidents in other ways, rather than always having to dispatch an officer to an incident; and

WHEREAS, community policing encourages all citizens to participate in community needs assessments that are sensitive to all cultural and ethnic populations within the community; and

WHEREAS, community oriented policing and problem solving requires a leadership style that makes more effective use of the human resources within the Beaufort Police Department and the community by developing a concept of management based on the principals of quality leadership which maintains vision and managing through values rather than rules. Focus on teamwork, seeking input before decisions are made, asking the people who work about ways to improve the process, customer oriented, focus on improving the systems and processes before blaming individuals, encourage creativity and risk taking that tolerates honest mistakes, creating an open climate that encourages providing and accepting feedback, developing goals and strategic plans to achieve the principals of quality leadership, and avoid top down decision making; and

WHEREAS, community policing is based on decentralization, with community services driven from the bottom up, which makes full use of the knowledge, skills, and expertise throughout the organization; and

WHEREAS, under the concepts of community policing there is a shifting of being incident driven to problem driven; and to expand the police function into a community policing concept, training will be comprehensive and open to bring about the transition in skills, attitudes, and values of the department employees.